The US News Political Bulletin reported this morning that “White House strategists are now pulling out all the stops to blame the Democratic majority in Congress for a potential delay in funding the Iraq war. … White House aides have adopted a new gambit — referring to the number of days since Bush requested funding for the troops in an effort to keep up the pressure.”

This morning at his Rose Garden press conference, President Bush highlighted this new gambit, saying it has been 57 days since he sent Congress his funding request. If Congress fails to act soon, Bush said, “the price of that failure will be paid by our troops and their loved ones.” Watch it:

[flv http://video.thinkprogress.org/2007/04/bushtimeout.320.240.flv]

During the reign of the Do-Nothing 109th Congress, Bush submitted two major supplemental spending requests. Each request experienced a delay far more than 57 days with hardly a peep of anger from the Commander-In-Chief. Details below:

After the 119 day delay, Bush did not say an “irresponsible” Congress had “undercut the troops” or that military families had “paid the price of failure.” Instead, Bush told the conservative-led Congress, “I applaud those Members of Congress who came together in a fiscally responsible way to provide much-needed funds for the War on Terror.”

Transcript:

It has now been 57 days since I requested that Congress pass emergency funds for our troops. Instead of passing clean bills that fund our troops on the front lines, the House and Senate have spent this time debating bills that undercut the troops.

[…]

In a time of war it’s irresponsible for the Democratic leadership in Congress to delay for months on end while our troops in combat are waiting for the funds. The bottom line is this, Congress’s failure to fund our troops on the front line also mean that some of our military families could wait longer for their loved ones to return from the front lines.

[…]

They’re now failing in that responsibility and if they do not change course in the coming weeks, the price of that failure will be paid by our troops and their loved ones.

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